Unable to export data to XML in ASP.NET - Data exported to HTML instead of XML

Question

I want to export some data from my ASP.NET web form application to a downloadable XML file but I can't get it to display the downlaoded information as an XML file. It outputs the information as an html document instead of XML.

protected void ExportXMLButton_Click(object sender, EventArgs e)
{

    using (MemoryStream stream = new MemoryStream())
    {
        // Create an XML document. Write our specific values into the document.
        XmlTextWriter xmlWriter = new XmlTextWriter(stream, System.Text.Encoding.ASCII);
        // Write the XML document header.
        xmlWriter.WriteStartDocument();
        // Write our first XML header.
        xmlWriter.WriteStartElement("WebApplications");
        // Write an element representing a single web application object.
        xmlWriter.WriteStartElement("WebApplication");
        // Write child element data for our web application object.
        xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Date", DateTime.Now.ToString());
        xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Programmer", "Label1.Text");
        xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Name", "Sample name ");
        xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Language", "C# ");
        xmlWriter.WriteElementString("Status", "Done");
        // End the element WebApplication
        xmlWriter.WriteEndElement();
        // End the document WebApplications
        xmlWriter.WriteEndElement();
        // Finilize the XML document by writing any required closing tag.
        xmlWriter.WriteEndDocument();
        // To be safe, flush the document to the memory stream.
        xmlWriter.Flush();
        // Convert the memory stream to an array of bytes.
        byte[] byteArray = stream.ToArray();
        // Send the XML file to the web browser for download.
        Response.Clear();
        Response.AppendHeader("Content-Disposition", "filename=MyExportedFile.xml");
        Response.AppendHeader("Content-Length", byteArray.Length.ToString());
        Response.ContentType = "application/octet-stream";
        Response.BinaryWrite(byteArray);
        xmlWriter.Close();

    }
}

I expect the output to be an XML file, but the actual output is my data being shown on the screen as a text.

This may depend on how the browser handles XML documents. Eg, on my development machine, firefox is set to download XML files, and Chrome is set to display them in the browser. — Kami
– Kami, Commented Aug 28, 2019 at 15:58

CodeCaster · Accepted Answer · 2019-08-28 16:22:39Z

1

You're writing the wrong headers. Use:

Content-Disposition: attachment;filename=...
Content-Type: application/xml

As a minimum. See:

answered Aug 28, 2019 at 16:22

CodeCaster

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2 Comments

Obi Wan Over a year ago

Thanks. however, it displays it as an html document now instead of XML

CodeCaster Over a year ago

That probably depends on your browser configuration.

thatguy · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-17 09:58:26Z

0

I think that deleting this is the answer:

Response.AppendHeader("Content-Length", byteArray.Length.ToString());

edited Aug 17, 2020 at 9:58

thatguy

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answered Aug 17, 2020 at 9:55

phong

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